Archive for January, 2010

I live in a rural part of Ohio. I have had to make to do with really awful “wireless” internet for over 5 years now. I would love to take my business somewhere else but dial up is the only somewhere else at this point. I have pleaded with both the cable and DSL companies to wire our neighborhood up and even been known to run down their service vans and ask them when they will be expanding their service. I’ve had Hughs net out a couple of times but the wooded hill directly to my south blocks the signal. Now I’ve just figured out that I have been receiving emails for the last 2 days but apparently not sending them. So if you have contacted me recently and did not get a response, I hope you will hear from me soon…..of course soon might be Monday when tech support comes in. 🙂

I realized when I signed up for the $5 a month shop at Cafe Press that I was not going to be the next Penny Arcade t-shirt shop. I added 3 or 4 bucks to the already high prices that Cafe Press charges thinking that I might make back the fee and also the cost of getting the graphics made….although my sister did the work and she does a lot of work for me with a deep big brother discount and is a bargain to say the least. But after you add shipping who wants to pay $20 for a mouse pad or coffee cup? Anyway, I’ve decided to change the prices to just cost ($10.99 cafe press base cost) and offer it as a service to any player fans who are crazy enough to want it…….crazy in a good way of course. 🙂

As a way to wrap up the Game Boys from Hell diaries over at Rock Paper Shotgun, Kieron Gillen asked me a few questions about developing SI and we touch on lots of fun topics like pricing, design decisions and plans for the future. You can read the interview here:

Cyberstratege with the help of Spartacus and some of the lounge lizards of the Cryptic Comet forums have organized a wiki for Solium Infernum. I can’t thank them enough and it looks like it will be an invaluable resource for players. You can check it out here:

I got a very nice email from a player saying that they really enjoyed the game and had created a top 10 reasons list about why. I haven’t had a compliment like this since the email I got last year from a gamer saying that he and his wife had named their son Armageddon.

Ok, it’s on to 1.05a. I missed a bug that really needs to be fixed. This update is completely compatible with 1.05 and has a minor change to prevent a script error that might occur with combat cards. I strongly recommend however that you uprade to 1.05a from 1.05 if you have applied 1.05 already. If you still have not then just go straight to 1.05a here:

Update Instructions:

The 1.05a update is compatible with all save games from previous versions. It can be applied to any previous update version.

Multiplayer PBEM Note: It is recommended that all players update together. What is crucial is that the player submitted turns match the version that is used by the host to process the .trn files submitted by the players. It’s usually most convenient that the players submit their current turns and then the host processes all the turns and at this point everybody updates.

You apply it by overwriting the three files AIScripts.cxt, MainIFace.cxt and GameEngine.cxt it the Solium Infernum install directory which is usually Program Files\Cryptic Comet\Solium Infernum

Important: For the self extracting .exe, some windows systems will not let you copy directly to Program Files so you might need to first copy them to your desktop or another writable location and then manually copy the three files over.

Change Notes:

Fixed bug that occurred when Dire Dissipation was directed towards a place of power

Fixed bug where defeating the Champion of Pandemonium or defending your title granted your praetor an extra level up

Fixed bug where failed Infernal Negotiations ritual could still provide Prestige Bonus when diplomatic actions by other players resolved

Fixed bug where Pandemonium could be placed on top of a player’s stronghold in rare cases during map generation

Fixed bug where AI tried to put combat card on legion that had 0 in all three combat attributes

Fixed bug where Dangerous Bickering event did not cancel vendettas that were initiated in response to a diplomatic order that was already underway when the event was played.

Fixed bug where changing a human player to an AI player was not possible unless player had submitted turn already or player .trn file was deleted

Fixed bug where player changed to AI player still read as human player even though turn submission indicated that player was no AI and checked off

Fixed bug where legion could be given Black Ring promotion by event twice.

Fixed bug where AI goal to prepare for upcoming Vendetta could be removed from stack if certain conditions occurred resulting in AI losing track of the fact that a Vendetta was ongoing.

Fixed bug where Faust’s contract did not provide +1 to dip rank if located in ritual chamber slot

Fixed bug where transfer of relic to ritual slot was not marked as complete as soon as the phase for the order had ended but rather was waiting until all 6 phases had processed

Fixed bug where player could initiate diplomatic action and then the next turn petition to be a Blood Vassal. Blood Vassal petition requires that you have no ongoing diplomatic actions with any players

Orders to create Combat Cards that result in the attempt to assign them to legions or places of power that are no longer under your control now fail and the resources are returned to your vault.

Balance Changes

Starting legion strength is no longer tied directly to infernal rank. The strength of players starting legions is now dependent on the number of points assigned to Martial Prowess, Cunning, Intellect and Wickedness. There is still a small random element as well but the overall variance has been decreased.

Stronghold strength still is linked to infernal rank but the algorithm for allocating points to the stronghold has been changed to decrease the variability and to improve the lowest positions (Lord, Baron) in comparison to the others (Duke, Prince)

The Dimensional Gate ritual cannot be used to “gate” a legion into a target hex that contains a legion or place of power at the time of targeting. If a valid target legion should occupy the hex before the ritual is executed during the turn processing then a battle will take place.

AI Improvements

Rewrote and improved algorithm Decide Declare Vendetta Against Player to be more aggressive and to also create sub goals to increase chances of a successful Vendetta

Improved AI ability to dynamically switch archetypes based on game state and current attributes

Changed AI goal weights so that more attention is given to increasing the power of legions already owned rather than buying new legions.

Improved AI path finding to station legions near opponent’s border when deciding on insults and demands. If legions are already stationed near the border, then improved the speed of the goal processing.

It took me a little longer than I wanted because of some crucial late additions to the fix list. Thanks to all those who sent in AI feedback and save games for bugs.

Update Instructions:

The 1.05 update is compatible with all save games from previous versions. It can be applied to any previous update version.

Multiplayer PBEM Note: It is recommended that all players update together. What is crucial is that the player submitted turns match the version that is used by the host to process the .trn files submitted by the players. It’s usually most convenient that the players submit their current turns and then the host processes all the turns and at this point everybody updates.

You apply it by overwriting the three files AIScripts.cxt, MainIFace.cxt and GameEngine.cxt it the Solium Infernum install directory which is usually Program Files\Cryptic Comet\Solium Infernum

Important: For the self extracting .exe, some windows systems will not let you copy directly to Program Files so you might need to first copy them to your desktop or another writable location and then manually copy the three files over.

Change Notes:

Fixed bug that occurred when Dire Dissipation was directed towards a place of power

Fixed bug where defeating the Champion of Pandemonium or defending your title granted your praetor an extra level up

Fixed bug where failed Infernal Negotiations ritual could still provide Prestige Bonus when diplomatic actions by other players resolved

Fixed bug where Pandemonium could be placed on top of a player’s stronghold in rare cases during map generation

Fixed bug where AI tried to put combat card on legion that had 0 in all three combat attributes

Fixed bug where Dangerous Bickering event did not cancel vendettas that were initiated in response to a diplomatic order that was already underway when the event was played.

Fixed bug where changing a human player to an AI player was not possible unless player had submitted turn already or player .trn file was deleted

Fixed bug where player changed to AI player still read as human player even though turn submission indicated that player was no AI and checked off

Fixed bug where legion could be given Black Ring promotion by event twice.

Fixed bug where AI goal to prepare for upcoming Vendetta could be removed from stack if certain conditions occurred resulting in AI losing track of the fact that a Vendetta was ongoing.

Fixed bug where Faust’s contract did not provide +1 to dip rank if located in ritual chamber slot

Fixed bug where transfer of relic to ritual slot was not marked as complete as soon as the phase for the order had ended but rather was waiting until all 6 phases had processed

Fixed bug where player could initiate diplomatic action and then the next turn petition to be a Blood Vassal. Blood Vassal petition requires that you have no ongoing diplomatic actions with any players

Orders to create Combat Cards that result in the attempt to assign them to legions or places of power that are no longer under your control now fail and the resources are returned to your vault.

Balance Changes

Starting legion strength is no longer tied directly to infernal rank. The strength of players starting legions is now dependent on the number of points assigned to Martial Prowess, Cunning, Intellect and Wickedness. There is still a small random element as well but the overall variance has been decreased.

Stronghold strength still is linked to infernal rank but the algorithm for allocating points to the stronghold has been changed to decrease the variability and to improve the lowest positions (Lord, Baron) in comparison to the others (Duke, Prince)

The Dimensional Gate ritual cannot be used to “gate” a legion into a target hex that contains a legion or place of power at the time of targeting. If a valid target legion should occupy the hex before the ritual is executed during the turn processing then a battle will take place.

AI Improvements

Rewrote and improved algorithm Decide Declare Vendetta Against Player to be more aggressive and to also create sub goals to increase chances of a successful Vendetta

Improved AI ability to dynamically switch archetypes based on game state and current attributes

Changed AI goal weights so that more attention is given to increasing the power of legions already owned rather than buying new legions.

Improved AI path finding to station legions near opponent’s border when deciding on insults and demands. If legions are already stationed near the border, then improved the speed of the goal processing.